


do i make you cringe?

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Pseudo-Incest if you squint, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25039816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: A series of vaguely disconnected snapshots in Klaus' life, featuring his relationship with Dave and his relationship with Diego.
Relationships: Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	do i make you cringe?

**Author's Note:**

> _Lover come hold me  
>  Heads on the fritz  
> Body intoxicated  
> Feelings comfortably mixed  
> Lover come hold me  
> Could you forget?  
> I got a secret  
> Digging a ditch_
> 
> _She said that I don't look like me no more no more_  
>  _I said I'm just tired_  
>  _She said you're just high_

“I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you.” 

It’s a secretive whisper against heated skin, a rustle of warm breath against his neck. Klaus shivers, but it isn’t because of the new air rushing over his sweaty skin. 

“You’re the only reason I’m still here,” he murmurs back. He feels Dave smile against his neck. 

There’s no way in hell he knows how true that is. 

* * *

Diego pulls back the blankets unceremoniously from the bed, revealing a tousled, vaguely hung-over Klaus beneath the sheets. “Get up,” he snaps. 

Klaus groans and gropes unsuccessfully for the edge of the covers. “Lemme sleeeeeep.”

“You can sleep in your own bed!” Diego exclaims, frustration pouring off him like the sweat that drips from his brow when he’s training. “Get out of my room, Klaus.”

“Fuck off.” Klaus shoves Diego’s pillow over his head and holds it there as tightly as he can, until Diego’s strong fingers pry it away from him anyways. 

* * *

“One of these days, we’ll be free of all this,” Dave murmurs. They’re both naked, with sweat cooling on their bodies. They’re aware, too, of just how much time they have left to lie here before one of them has to slide into another empty bed. “And then, it’ll be you and me, Klaus.” 

Klaus hums, mouthing absently at Dave’s collarbone, grinning against his skin when gooseflesh prickles up beneath his lips. “You and me,” he echoes in a whisper. “I’d like that.” 

Dave curls his fingers into Klaus’ curls just the way he likes, so Klaus tilts his head into the touch. “Yeah, ‘s why I said it,” he murmurs with a soft smile of his own, before he tugs Klaus up to kiss his lips. 

He tastes like whiskey, pure and clean. Klaus’ every sense sings at the sensation.

* * *

“What the fuck are you doing?” Diego asks. Klaus barely hears him over the ringing in his ears, but he grins lazily at the sight of Diego’s frown, upside down as he is in the doorway of the kitchen. 

Klaus takes another hit off of his joint and ignores the implication that Diego’s presence holds. If Diego is awake, then the rest of the family might awaken anytime now and come downstairs to find him strung out and lying face-up on the kitchen table with nothing but a pair of ratty underwear and his lacy robe to keep him decent. 

None of that matters as Klaus blows a smoke ring out from between warm, chapped lips. It doesn’t even perturb him when Diego snatches the mostly-smoked joint from his fingers and shoves him mercilessly off of the table. 

* * *

Dave runs his fingers over Klaus’ arm, over long scars he doesn’t want to think about and pinpricks from needles past and bruises from recent battles, and he says nothing. 

He doesn’t need to speak to convey that he cares. 

Soft lips caress scar after scar, bruise after bruise, and Klaus wants to cry just as much as he wants those lips to keep going, to keep kissing, to keep mapping the plane of his skin. If Dave can make a map, maybe the next time Klaus looks at himself, he won’t feel so lost. 

“I love you,” Klaus whispers. It’s a secret and a sob and a plea, all rolled into one desperate bid to be _heard_ , and he knows that Dave _hears_ him. 

* * *

Diego bursts into his room unannounced, although now that they’re all living together again, that has become the norm between them. Living with so many rules for so long has turned them all off of every little social convention they can possibly get away with dropping, including knocking. 

“You’re shooting up again,” he accuses. 

Klaus glances up from the book he’s been unsuccessfully trying to take in for the last half-hour. “Really? Damn, wish I’d known,” he says casually, like it doesn’t scare him when Diego gets that fire in his eyes, like it doesn’t make him want to hide the long-faded scars on his arms for fear that he might see them and think that they’re new. 

Diego is unimpressed. “Don’t play dumb with me.” 

“Who says I’m playing?” Klaus asks mildly. He doesn’t wait for Diego to get the joke. Instead, he waves his arms in the general direction of… well, his entire room. “You’re welcome to search me.” 

With a glare, Diego seems to consider the offer, and then carefully, he begins to do just that. Klaus pretends it doesn’t hurt when he finds nothing and doesn’t even bother to apologise on the way out. 

* * *

“I wish I was high right now,” Klaus mutters, desperately attempting to not pick at the bandages wrapped around his torso. The words slip out, unheeded and unbidden, but he doesn’t try to pull them back in. 

Dave doesn’t bat an eye. In fact, he pulls a sympathetic face and catches Klaus’ hand when he tries to give into the temptation to itch at the cloth. In one fluid movement, he kisses Klaus’ knuckles and then traps Klaus’ other hand between his own, so that both are sandwiched in a warm cocoon to keep them safe. “You need to rest,” he says softly. Unadulterated concern bleeds into the words so easily that it makes it hard for Klaus to swallow past a sudden lump in his throat. 

“I’m trying,” he says, and Dave smiles sadly. 

“I know you are. I’m so proud of you.” 

* * *

It is easily the worst night that Klaus has had in weeks, and all he wants to do is get lost in the sweet, sweet relief of some amphetamines or drift away on a river of heroin. Unfortunately, he’s _trying,_ which according to Diego means that he can’t do either of those things. So instead, he’s lying on his bed and sobbing like a child who lost his teddy bear when Diego tentatively pushes the door open to his room. 

“Are you high?” is the first thing that he says, like he’ll trust the answer that Klaus gives him even though Klaus knows that they both know that his trust is tenuous at best. 

“I’m fine,” Klaus barely gets out, contradicting himself even as he trembles with the effort of holding back a sob. “Just-- Just tired.” 

Diego sighs like he doesn’t believe him, but he enters the room and shuts the door behind him, so Klaus uses every bit of effort he can muster up to shift over a few inches to give Diego room to sit on the bed with him. Diego takes the silent offer and sits down for all of three seconds before strong, steady arms wrap tightly around Klaus. It’s all the invitation Klaus needs to throw himself bodily into Diego’s lap, and he makes himself as small as he possibly can as he shakes and shivers and tries not to get snot on Diego’s shirt. 

“You’re fine,” Diego murmurs, echoing him in a reassuring tone. “I’m here.” 

So Klaus cries, and cries, and cries, because it’s too much and not enough all at once to have someone hold him again.

**Author's Note:**

> title and lyrics from Matt Maeson's _Cringe_
> 
> kudos/comments are love! come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans


End file.
